***1/2 He’s Big, He’s Bad, He’s Ghidrah!

For some reason, they wanted to turn Godzilla and Rodan into a good guy. In order to do that, they needed a bad guy. Their answer: Ghidra(Ghidora, King Ghidorah).

A giant, mysterious meteorite lands in Japan. Meanwhile, a princess from some other country has her plane blow up, but mysteriously survives. She comes back claiming to be a Martian, a profasizes the attack of a space monster. Some people decide to help her and bring her mind back, but only end up learning that she is really a Martian, the descendent of one who came to earth 3,000 years ago when Ghidra destroyed Mars. Some people from the county she’s from try to assassinate her, but fail and end up shocking her back to normal. While all this is happening, Godzilla and Rodan pop up again and start fighting each other. One of the mothra larva comes and persuades them to help fight Ghidra. They gang up on him, and force him to retreat.

This movie was pretty well done. They plot is very good but is a bit far-fetched at times. The special effects were very well done for the most part. Turning Godzilla and Rodan into good guys was a ,well, good idea. It sets the series up for the rest of the decade. The main part that was good about this movie is the way it flows. Just about everything in it just flows right for the rest of the movie. Unlike most other Godzilla movies, there isn’t much parts were the movie slows down or speeds up very fast. The plot flow was done well, probably why the American version wasn’t much different from the Japanese(as far as I know). They battle scenes were done very well, some of the best of the decade.

It had it’s problems though. The movie has a good plot, but it lasts a long time. They spend more time on human plot instead of monster plot. Then again, what would you rather have, good human plot or poorly done monster scenes. They few monster scenes they had were done well, but it’s apparent that they didn’t have much money to make any more scenes with monsters. They special effects did get a little cheap at times. Godzilla got his classic "aresel can breath" back again. Sure, it was OK back in the black and white era because it blended in and looked like fire, but it’s not good in color. It seems like they tried to work on the close up monster scenes a lot, but it didn’t turn out all that great because the monsters got jiggy eyes and goofy looks. However, Ghidra itself was made very well. However, being the title monster, it didn’t get much of a part. Although the movie was good, it didn’t seem like a good introduction to this new monster. He didn’t seem to put up much of a fight. Then again, it was three against one. Also, even though the plot flow was great, it had one flaw. Near the end, the people who lived in the village that was being trampled at the time, all of a sudden starting caring about their homes, right when Godzilla and the rest were wining. As a whole, though, I thought this movie was very well done. A must see to anybody who likes Godzilla, Ghidra, Rodan, and even Mothra. It has them all here.

Good plot

Good special effects

Godzilla and Rodan turn into good guys

Gots a bunch of monsters

Ghidrah’s first appearance

To much human plot, not enough monsters

Jiggly eyes

Aresel can breath

Not that great of a first impression of Ghidrah

Rubber rocks!(Cool, I caught a rock. Weeeee, I’m falling!)

Credits